This invention relates to a utility system for tooling, and in particular for punches and dies used in conjunction with pharmaceutical tablet press machinery.
Tablet press machinery utilized in pharmaceutical manufacturing requires a relatively large number of punches and dies for compressing the tablets. Typically forty-five or more dies per tablet press will be employed, with double the quantity for the corresponding punches. Two punches precision machined to yield the size and shape of the particular tablet to be manufactured are required for each precision machined die which holds the powder to be compressed into the tablet form. The actual functioning of the tablet press is well known to the art, and forms no part of this invention.
The large number of these precision machined metal punches and dies obviously require a compact and convenient placement system to prevent damage to these delicate tools during storage and cleaning, and to provide ready access when required for use in a tablet press. Attempts have been made in the past to provide suitable storage containers as is evidenced by Williams, U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,994, issued Dec. 25, 1984. Williams teaches a tool box for holding matched sets of punches and dies for pharmaceutical tablet manufacture. Punches 46 (FIG. 2) are secured in individual nests on a tray 68 (FIG. 3) horizontally positioned within the storage cabinet 20 (FIG. 1). Trays are positioned vertically one above another within the cabinet, with a sliding door in the cabinet providing access to the trays and/or individual punches. Dies 64 (FIG. 2) are stored separately in a drawer 76 at the base of the cabinet. In a second modification provisions for storing additional punches vertically positioned in the front doors of the cabinet is described. Again, Connors et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,103, issued Apr. 2, 1991, teach a storage and tote box for punches and dies for the production of tablets and caplets. In this storage box 1 (FIG. 1) a removable tray 2 has a plurality of through holes 9 (FIG. 4) arranged in a grid in order to support the punches P (FIG. 3) in a vertical position by means of their head portion H. Cylindrical guide means 11 (FIG. 5) within each hole, together with a notch 12 in the tray and a key K on each punch, prevent movement of the punches during storage. A guide rail 4 (FIG. 3) around the periphery of the gridwork of the trays provides the means for accommodating the associated dies D1.
While these inventions provide useful means for storage of punches and dies employed in pharmaceutical manufacture, they do not address the multiple purposes envisioned by the tooling utility system of the present invention.
Therefore it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a tooling utility system to store, for example, punches and dies utilized in pharmaceutical tablet manufacture, in a safe, convenient, easy-to-use and economical manner.
It is a further object to provide a tooling utility system for containing punches and dies for pharmaceutical tablet manufacture comprising a set for a specific application.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a tooling utility system for either vertical or horizontal placement of the stacked trays.
Still another object to the invention is to provide a tooling utility system for safely shipping complete sets of tooling.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a tooling utility system wherein tooling secured on trays within said system are fully visible and accessible for manual or automatic inspection.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a tooling utility system wherein trays within said system on which said tools are positioned are designed to be placed within a container for sonic cleaning procedure without the need for extraneous handling tools.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a tray design for storing tooling which permits the tooling to be stored on either side of individual trays and which permits the stacking of the trays in any orientation thus optimizing the simplicity and flexibility of the tooling utility system.